Are Young People Overcompensating For Their Incompetence With Visibility?

Zainab Aderounmu

July 7, 2026

We are in the age of the reel highlight: the process of packaging one’s work and highlighting the most glossy part for the world to see. The problem with that is that people see the good parts without understanding the full picture. Consequently, an averagely-skilled person can parade themselves as an expert or thought leader with only a little branding. 

Are young people masking incompetence with hyper visibility? Unlike some older professionals who might sit back and allow their work to speak for them, while hoping they get recognised, young people take the driver’s seat in building their brands and taking due credit for their work. Rather than sheer incompetence, hyper visibility has become a strategy to bypass traditional gatekeeping barriers. Young people understand that in this era, visibility, like technical competence, is a currency. In fact, the art of visibility is a new skill that many young people have mastered, a necessary tool to remain prominent in a saturated market. 

Are there some young people misrepresenting themselves as experts and thought leaders whereas they’re not? Absolutely! It is bizarre to work with someone who parades themselves as an expert online, only to discover they can’t produce the same results they claim to have produced in the past. The dictionary defines competence as “the possession of required skills, knowledge, qualifications, or capacity to meet specific standards. It encompasses not only what you know but also your capability to apply that knowledge effectively in various situations.” Claiming to have high levels of competencies and consistently falling short of such standards in real life is misrepresentation, and that should be called out. 

However, should young people use social media and visibility as a storytelling tool? Absolutely. Competency should be viewed as a journey. When I started posting my work online, I was green; I only wanted people to see what I was up to and the progress I was making. Over time, I became great at it, and the language shifted from ‘complete rookie’ to ‘excellent professional’, and people began to ask for lessons. A professional grows over the years, and they deserves to demonstrate that growth in their visibility journey without being accused of incompetence. 

Meanwhile, competence has taken on new dimensions with the advent of technology and social media. Marketing competence must now include storytelling skills and digital marketing. That is, to be an excellent salesperson, you must understand strategic positioning and social media visibility. There are content creators, influencers and community builders, all of whom require certain competencies. Gone are the days when things were done purely offline and traditionally. Therefore, building a community is also a form of building. 

Many times, young people have demonstrated that having a channel and an engaged audience sells a product effectively to the tune of millions of the desired currency. In essence, should young people spend a lot of time online when building things? It definitely depends on what you’re building and for whom you’re building. An influencer or community builder may definitely need to open their ‘online shop’ consistently. 

Finally, to the people who misrepresent themselves and their competencies, both young and old, it doesn’t have to be that way. Sooner or later, your audience would smoke you out and avoid you like the plague. And the internet never forgets. To those who think young people are ‘doing too much’ online, by all means set up your own channels and brand yourself and your skills; your audience would find you, but stop sneering at the people who are making visible impact. To the rest of us, taking visibility as a non-negotiable part of the journey, keep at it.

About Author

Zainab Aderounmu A. W.

Zainab ADEROUNMU A. W. is a First Class graduate of English Language and the Overall Best Graduating Student from the Lagos State University, Lagos Nigeria. She’s a professional Master of Ceremonies, known as The Hijabi Compere , a public speaking coach and Communications Professional. She is currently a Youth advisor to the European Union where she doubles as the Spokesperson and Head of Communications & PR for the Youth Sounding Board.